Washing-machine



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WASHING-MACHINE.

speicatioi @Letters Patentno.1.1,3e4, dared July is, 1854.`

To all/07mm t may concern Be it known that I, H. C. SVTEVENSO, of the town of Georgetown, county of Scott, and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Machine for Washing Clothes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, making a part of this specification, in which is given a complete View of the entire machine or so much thereof as is necessary, when taken in connection with the description here given, in order to a perfect understanding of the construction of the same.

Letter M points to a side view of the box; Letter N to a front and end view of the same, where the operator should stand.

The letters A, A, designate the supports, screwed on to the box as bearings for the working gear, being set abdut ten inches from the hinder inside corners of the box. The upper arms should find their vertical position when the rubber stands on the center of the plate, and the plate may be supported by letting the end pieces thereof run down to the bottom of the box. The plate should stand (top surface) about 2.1,- inches from top of the box. B, the roller, being, when cast, one with the upper arms C, (j, and the lips J, J, for the attachment of the upper ends of the spring by means of screws,

and securing, meantime, an equivalent for the shoulder joints. To this roller is fastened the handle or lever D, with which the machine is worked. E, E, the forearms, hinged to the upper and thereby forming the elbow joints, and being hinged also to the center of the rubber F, so as to allow free play to the same, and representing thereby the wrist joints, the rubber being the hands of the machine, operating on the clothing and plate or wash board below, marked G; H, H, the supports to the plate G, acting also as catches to cause the rubber when thrown back in contact with them to turn upon edge for the purposes of free and easy access between the rubber and the stationary plate. The plate Gr is supported at the height of t inches in an S-inch `box,.at the hinder ends, as seen in the drawing; at the front by simple blocks 4 inches high, set in the corners. The plate may be lifted from the box. The hinder ends of the side pieces of the plate' are notched to the `depth of a quarter of` an inch for the purpose 0f thereby causing the rubber `to turn down more steadily in the forward movement of the same. I, I, the steel springs, attachedto the extensions of the lower arms behind the elbows, being movable at pleasure, by reason of the manner of their attachments, enabling the operator to increase or diminish the pressure of the rubber on the clothing at pleasure.

The proportions to be observed in the construction of said machine should be somewhat as follows, to wit: For a box say 24 inches wide by 38 long by 8 deep in the clear, the plate Gr` should be, say, 16 inches, to be set about in the center end to end, and top to bottom.\ It should be rounded on either edge for the ready passage of the clothing. Both the plate and rubber may be made of wood or boards covered with crimped Zinc plates. The-rubber board should not, perhaps, be more than one inch thick. The latter should be, say, 7% inches, to be hinged in the center one way and either arm at one-quarter the length of the rubber from the ends thereof. The fore and upper arms should measure, each, 10 inches from center to center of motion, or from joint to joint. The extensions lat the elbow, say 3 inches, with drop-holes in the jaws on the inside, from below (leaving the outside of the jaws complete) as catches for the pins running through the eyes of the springs. The forearms at the elbows should be nearly on a horizontal line with the top surface of the rubber, for the most favorable direction of the power. The ends of the arms, at the joints on the rubber` should be dropped sufficiently to admit of an untrammeled play of the rubber in adapting 'itself to the variable condition of the clothing. The handle or lever should be to 3 feet long. The springs should be made, say, 1 inch or 121; inches (graduated) wide, of 15 or 16`gage wrought steel with an eye at one end for a pin, and a hole in the other, and measuring in length about 18 inches, being set and tempered to a regular bow, the ends approaching to within about 6 inches of each other.

Except the springs, the working gear with the supports (not including the plates) may be constructed either of wood or cast iron.

In operating the machine, the lever should first be so far depressed as to throw the rubber completely jback and on its edge. The

clothing should then be spread somewhat on the plate G, belng put 1n and drawn up a woman on the common washboard-wit-h a horizontal motion and an elastic pressure.

I claim as my invention and desire to seeure by Letters Patentrlhe arms E, C, and the springs, I, in combination with the rubber F and plate G constructed and arranged substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

H. C. STEVENSON.

Attest:

GEORGE W. MARTIN, J. C. MINTEER. 

